


Prison and Paradise

by merycula (thanksillpass)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-02
Updated: 2016-07-02
Packaged: 2018-07-19 15:38:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7367497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thanksillpass/pseuds/merycula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I can't believe I got thrown into a space jail for the first time with you of all people.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prison and Paradise

Whenever Lance thought of being thrown into a space jail, he always imagined it would be for something larger-than-life, like liberating a planet, or being too awesome and fearsome for his captors to pass up the opportunity, and it would involve elaborate plans of extraction and other guns-blazing stuff. Instead, it was a brawl. First bar they went to on the first planet that's inhabitants didn't need rescuing, or tried to enslave and/or kill them, to finally have some well-deserved post-heroic fun, and trouble has found them. Well, more precisely, it has found Lance, and the others just got dragged into it, but that was semantics. Lance's got the worst of it anyway. And you should see the other guy! Except you couldn't, because it was somehow Lance's fault, and the guy was not only a free alien, he was pressing charges. How boringly ordinary and unfair. How was Lance supposed to have known that girl had a highly volatile husband who really didn't like it when someone innocently flirted with his wife?

“I can't believe I got thrown into a space jail for the first time with you of all people.”

Keith gave him an exceptionally unimpressed look, and Lance sighed in resignation. If that guy was pissed enough not to take the bait, it was probably for the best not to push it; Lance supposed Keith could have some petty and irrelevant in the grand scheme of things reasons to be angry. He was so bored. If the others were there too, it wouldn't be so bad, it would be just another bonding experience for the team while they waited for Allura to bail them out, but instead, he was stuck there with just Keith, because Hunk got hit on the head with a chair before he could get in trouble, and was most likely well-cared for by Shiro right now, and Pidge was in the other cell as, for reasons beyond Lance's comprehension, this planet's incarceration system involved height in some way. Being alone with Keith in an enclosed space made him uncomfortable.

“I'm the one who's stuck here with looking at these slimy walls or your mess of a face,” Keith said levelly, probably realizing there wasn't much more to do in there except talking to each other. “Does it hurt?”

He pressed a finger under his left eye, as if Lance wouldn't know he was referring to a massive black-eye he was currently sporting – it was kind of _out there_ , being the only visible injury out of all he's sustained. Lance scoffed smugly, attempting an confident grin demonstrating how unaffected his was by his impressive battle scars, but immediately winced in pain, as the cut in the inside of his lower lip opened. He tasted blood and petulantly licked it away, shrugging. For all his usual whining and catastrophizing, Lance was never one to wallow in self-pity – he could be graceful about facing the consequences of his own actions. Besides, theatrical sighs and over-dramatic intakes of breath made his bruised ribs hurt.

Keith sighed deeply, flaunting his ability to do so painlessly. “Wanna at least tell me why I was punching that guy?”

His words startled Lance. He blinked a couple of times, computing the fact that Keith has apparently got into a fight for him without even knowing why. It was incredibly reassuring and actually quite flattering, though Lance couldn't see why he shouldn't be taking it for granted – he was a pretty great guy after all, and the least Keith could do for the absolute pleasure of basking in Lance's presence was to defend his honor when the need arose. Still, it was surprisingly nice to realize that their team was gradually becoming a second family, and Lance didn't really feel like ruining the moment by confessing he was hitting on a married woman and didn't know when to stop.

“I was hitting on a married woman and didn't know when to stop,” he blurted out, face-palming internally while trying to keep up the face of someone incredibly proud of himself and his life choices. “It was totally worth it too. I'm telling you, if you weren't such a shit bodyguard, I could practically smell the space divorce in the air. When you think about, it's your fault I ended up a prisoner instead of an exotic boy toy, like planned. You owe me big time, buddy.”

There, that went spectacularly well. The moment was certainly ruined, but Keith was gritting his teeth in irritation, and that was Lance's comfort zone, and it sure was good to be back – Lance preferred the constant bickering, and their possibly one-sided rivalry over Keith acting like he cared. Opting for dreamily staring at the ceiling to hide his embarrassment under the guise of remembering the good old days of two hours ago, Lance hoped Keith would actually call bullshit so they could engage in a familiar, good-natured fight between friends. After approximately three minutes of unnerving silence, he cleared his throat and looked at Keith pointedly, rolling his eyes when Keith refused to stoop down to Lance's level.

“I'm fine talking enough for the both of us, you know,” he offered nonchalantly, inspecting his hands. There was a bit of bluish skin and blood under his fingernails. He wasn't sure how he felt about it.

“I wish the others were here,” Keith admitted reluctantly. “It would be a good bonding experience. Instead it's just you and your delusions of grandeur.”

Lance gasped in shock, his disgusting fingers forgotten. Despite being of the exact same opinion a while ago, having it reversed like that was simply insulting, seeing as Lance was a delight of a human being, and Keith was... Keith. Clearly, Lance was in the losing position in this situation.

“Are you saying just the two of us can't bond?” he demanded, annoyance sipping into his voice.

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Even if we could, you have the tendency to forget our bonding moments. Remember the-”

Lance interrupted Keith with a scoff, trying to hide the rapidly spreading blush of mortification. “Whatever, man, I change my mind. Sit there and brood for all I care. I don't need your attitude to keep me warm in here, I have a lot of fond memories. Just remember I didn't ask you to rush to my rescue, as I was doing perfectly fine on my own, so don't expect a thank you basket.”

Unsurprisingly, Keith fell obnoxiously silent, as only Keith could, leaving Lance to his own depressing thoughts. Of course he remembered – it was the most homoerotic thing that's ever happened to him, and he'd kissed a guy once. Thinking about half-dazedly spewing pathetic poetics about team work made him cringe inwardly, and then there was the cradling-in-arms part, which, just no. Lance didn't particularly like liking boys. They made his breath catch, and his head swim, and his toes tingle, definitely, but they were _problematic_. The ladies, on the other hand, on top of causing all the aforementioned effects, being beautiful, soft, nice-smelling, and overall flawless were... Well, to put it simply, girls were used to guys like Lance. They'd giggle, or roll their eyes, flirt back, or reject him – as simple as that. He'd get punched in the face if he tried his usual, admittedly a bit flamboyant routine on a wrong boy, and he's learned that the hard way. So, liking guys was problematic, which was something Lance generally tried to avoid in life on principle, thus focusing all his efforts on the ladies, but liking Keith in particular? That was a disaster.

“You were doing fine taking down a beating on your own,” Keith finally said, sounding peeved, as if he couldn't keep it in any longer. “Pidge was doing the majority of ass-whooping before I showed up. You mostly scratched at people. Including me.”

It wasn't how Lance remembered it, but before he tackled that specific issue, he decided to point out the obvious. “It took you ten minutes to come up with that elaborate insult? That's just adding salt to injury. Besides, what can I say? I'm a lover, not a fighter.” He shrugged casually, immediately regretting the unnecessary movement, as dull pain pulled on his ribs. “The healing pods have spoiled me, man. Do you think Allura would be partial to offering some good old-fashioned TLC when we get back to the castle? I bet she'll be into the new, dangerous me. I'm a man with the past now!” His smug grin fell, and he let out a soft sigh. “Probably depends on how annoyed she'll be... And to think all this could have been avoided if the guy was down for a threesome.”

He didn't know why he said that. He supposed being locked up in there with just Keith, focused only on him, deprived of all usual distractions of a normal day, and possibly simply being depressed by being in jail, Lance felt the impulsive urge to confess his feelings. He's always been too honest for his own good, too quick to naively expose himself in front of others, make himself vulnerable; it was just his luck that most people never took him seriously. At least he had a half-mind to gauge for Keith's reaction to the mere concept of the mere possibility of Lance being merely attracted to him before completely ruining whatever tentative relationship they've built these past months.

“I can hear your brain breaking from over here,” muttered Keith, resigned. “You can relax. So you're into guys too. I'm surprised it hasn't slipped out up til now with how much you babble all the time.”

Lance let out a breath he was unknowingly holding. Keith thought he was having a breakdown over accidentally revealing he was bi, not over having a hopeless crush on the last person in all the galaxies they've visited who could in all honesty say they actually liked Lance. He could work with that. Except he couldn't, because the rare moments of kindness, understanding, and support Keith offered – no, not that rare, because Keith was a good person and a good friend, and Lance's stupidly honest brain wouldn't even let him lie to himself – were dangerous. Because of Lance's own carefully hidden insecurities, sometimes they felt like pity, coming from Keith. _I won't yell at Lance for getting us thrown in jail, he's already got his ass kicked. I won't make a big deal of Lance's coming out, he's terrified enough._ Lance overreacted.

“Oh yeah? You seem pretty cool about it now, but are you sure you won't freak out at some point that a guy might be secretly drooling over your ass?”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Lance felt truly trapped for the first time, fully realizing there was nowhere for him to run from the consequences of his lack of brain-to-mouth filter. He briefly considered repeatedly hitting his head against the wall until he got through to Pidge's cell, and begging her to hold him in her arms and protect him from himself. Why was it so difficult for him to keep his mouth shut? Keith was frowning now, his narrowed eyes fixed on Lance's grimacing, flaming-hot face, probably imagining Lance hiding in the dark corners of the castle, panting after his virtue with his tongue on his chin, and hadn't Lance ever heard of not thinking about elephants? He physically flinched when Keith cleared his throat.

“Lance, 'guys drooling over my ass' – Lance absentmindedly registered that Keith looked like a goofball doing the air quotes – is pretty much what I'm going for... I thought you knew?”

Lance hadn't known. He had no idea. Keith's only ever expressed desire for kicking alien butts in a giant robotic cat, and Lance has never entertained the idea. The complete shock must have been coming across pretty well even without him saying anything, because Keith's expression was gradually changing from mildly amused to bewildered. Lance's entire face was permanently on fire at this point, but seeing Keith blush and avoid his eyes startled him. Lance decided his brain has finally been fried, because he could have sworn Keith was being _shy_ , and that was simply impossible.

“You- You flirt with me,” Keith mumbled, sounding uncertain. “All the time.”

Lance took a sharp breath through his nose, instantly going out of the state of shock and slipping into panic. “I don't flirt with you!” he protested, voice cracking pitifully. “Have you ever see me flirt? You'd know if I was coming onto you, man, trust me. I'd sweep you off your feet! That being said, just because a dude occasionally enjoys the company of other dudes, that doesn't mean I'm into _you_ of all people, even in our dire social circumstances. Shiro is much better-looking. Hunk is so much nicer than you. Pidge is a total cutie, if you like them pint-sized. There's Allura! Actually, Even _Coran_ holds more appeal to me than you!”

“Are you done?”

Lance could see Keith wasn't buying any of it, judging by the way his face was slowly relaxing and starting to express something akin to fondness, and Lance really couldn't blame him. He wasn't even trying, for quiznack's sake; there was endearing level of arrogance, and there was flat out insulting lies. There was no point in dignifying Keith's uncharacteristically soft question with a response, not that Lance had any dignity left to spare. Hiding his face in his hands, he let out a strangled whimper, praying for quick death, or Allura, or a quick death at Allura's hands.

“Look, Lance, it's okay. Everything's fine. I know you like me, dumbass. You're not exactly subtle. Ever. I didn't say anything because I thought you were having an existential crisis over it.”

“I _am_ having an existential crisis over it!”

Well, so that cat was out of the bag as well. Why deny it? He's humiliated himself enough for one night. He could hear Keith's soft chuckle, but it wasn't mean or deprecating, and Lance finally dared to look at him – Keith's face was serious, but his eyes crinkled with warm amusement. Naturally, it pissed Lance off, because he was having an actual meltdown, and that stupid Mullet thought it was _funny._ Huffing angrily, Lance crossed his arms on his chest, tipping his face to the side to indicate how unimpressed he was with what he was seeing.

“But not because I'm a guy?” Keith prompted lightly, almost teasingly. Case in point.

“No!” Lance hissed. “Because you're the worst!”

Keith nodded gravely. “I'm having a similar problem here.”

“Well, it's not like- Wait, what?”

“You heard me.”

Lance usually associated these words with a defiant tone of voice and hard eyes, not hushed stammering and blushing. Keith was embarrassed. Lance was embarrassed too. They were embarrassed together because it was all so embarrassing, and there was nothing to say that would ever change that. Lance nearly jumped two feet into the air when Pidge's voice came from the other side of the wall, clear as day, telling them to just go out on a date and get it over with. Keith and Lance stared at each other dumbly, mortified with the realization that Pidge has apparently been silently listening to everything this whole time, but before Lance could call her out on being a massive creep, their cell doors opened with a loud clang, and Allura walked in, a faint blush of vexation on her beautiful face.

“Hunk has told me all about how the unruly children on Earth are punished for irresponsible antics like that, so all of you are _grounded_ ,” she declared. “This includes you, Pidge!”

“Worth it!” Pidge shouted back, her voice cheerful.

Lances eyes filled with tears of joy and he lunged at Allura. “My princess, my savior! You have no idea what I've been through! In the spirit of teaching you about Earth's customs, have you heard of the term TLC?”

He could hear Keith clearing his throat pointedly behind his back, as he walked Allura out of the cell, but he ignored it. Painfully awkward half-confessions aside, he wasn't off the market just yet, and Allura would always be his first choice, despite his stomach swooping at mere the memory of Keith's flushed cheeks. If Keith really did want a piece of that, he would have to make an effort beyond scorching looks and manly grunts he usually used to communicate, and that was final. Lance was so pleased with himself at getting over this acutely distressing situation so quickly and appearing inwardly unscathed for Allura's sake, who certainly found comfort in knowing he was okay after spending long hours in a space jail.

“Lance, you're trembling!” Allura noticed, concerned. “Is everything alright? Is it your injuries?”

He stilled, color draining from his face in shame upon realizing his knees were shaking, his heart still pounding rapidly from the intense emotional turmoil he's just been through, the courtesy of Keith. Behind him, he could hear Pidge huff in amusement. He cast her a scornful glance over his shoulder, daring her to say anything. When she smiled at him innocently, he turned back to Allura, but not before catching a glimpse of Keith, still slightly flushed and dazed. Immediate blushing, Lance unceremoniously tripped over his own feet with an indignant squawk.

Yes, impromptu soulful tete-a-tetes in space jail – Lance was definitely not doing that again.

 


End file.
